Fewell to Giants as DC? (1 Viewer)

[Big Blue Wrecking Crew]

This rumor gaining some steam this morning. Not following the Bills, I am curious about his philosophy and how it will mesh with the Giants' D approach?

 

[Jene Bramel]

Fewell coached with Lovie Smith. His approach is based in the Tampa-2 philosophy, but more aggressive than the more vanilla forms that Dungy and Kiffin used to lean towards.

 

[Yenrub]

I thought Fewell was also going to interview for the Bears DC job

Has he made a decision yet?

 

[Big Blue Wrecking Crew]

No decision to my knowledge. Was not aware of his past connection with Lovie, so that could be an indicator. Would not be real thrilled with a Tampa 2 scheme. Doesn't seem to fit the Giants' way, plus not sure they have the personnel to pull it off.

 

[Jason Wood]

As an Eagles fan, this upsets me. Sheridan was a train wreck and I hate that Coughlin realized that after just one season. Fewell may not be the best, but he's a huge step up from Sheridan...which bums me out.

 

[DoubleG]

No decision to my knowledge. Was not aware of his past connection with Lovie, so that could be an indicator. Would not be real thrilled with a Tampa 2 scheme. Doesn't seem to fit the Giants' way, plus not sure they have the personnel to pull it off.

That's okay - the Bears don't have the personnel either.

 

[Sweet Love]

As an Eagles fan, this upsets me. Sheridan was a train wreck and I hate that Coughlin realized that after just one season. Fewell may not be the best, but he's a huge step up from Sheridan...which bums me out.

I was calling for John Fox to be the next DC in New York back in November. Ironically, the same game that saved his job was against the Giants. He is not 100% in Carolina and I am not sure what the repercussions (contract-wise) would be for him if the Giants offered him the DC (at the highest pay in the league for example). Basically now, he is just a dead man walking for another year.

 

[Sammy Traveller]

Fewell Perry or Perry Fewell?

I keep getting confused.

 

[QuizGuy66]

Seems like the DC job with the Giants isn't getting much love. I'm gathering that Coughlin's uncertain long-term status might be a detraction (basically the fear would be that you go there one year, things don't improve enough, and a housecleaning ensues)?

-QG

 

[GroveDiesel]

One of the things that he does well is motivate players and get them to play hard. The Bills don't really have all that much outstanding talent on their team and they were once again ravaged by injuries. But the guys always played hard. Their passing defense was excellent: 2nd best in the league in fact. Their rushing defense was awful: 30th in the league. I chalk most of the rushing defense problems up to a weak defensive line against the run and lack of talent/tons of injuries at the LB position.

 

[Big Blue Wrecking Crew]

Seems like the DC job with the Giants isn't getting much love. I'm gathering that Coughlin's uncertain long-term status might be a detraction (basically the fear would be that you go there one year, things don't improve enough, and a housecleaning ensues)?

-QG

Not sure where you're getting that from. If anything, the Giants' brass is too loyal and tends to keep people around longer than expected. As an example, the dogs were barking after the 2006-2007 season for Coughlin's head after going 8-8, with the chorus getting louder when they lost their first two games. IMHO, he gets the chance to "rebuild" one more time, as his contract goes through the 2011 season.

 

[QuizGuy66]

Seems like the DC job with the Giants isn't getting much love. I'm gathering that Coughlin's uncertain long-term status might be a detraction (basically the fear would be that you go there one year, things don't improve enough, and a housecleaning ensues)?

-QG

Not sure where you're getting that from. If anything, the Giants' brass is too loyal and tends to keep people around longer than expected. As an example, the dogs were barking after the 2006-2007 season for Coughlin's head after going 8-8, with the chorus getting louder when they lost their first two games. IMHO, he gets the chance to "rebuild" one more time, as his contract goes through the 2011 season.

I understand that the Giants tend to be loyal to their coaches. I meant though in terms of the perception that an outside coach might have on the situation. If they don't think Coughlin will be there long (either via the ax or him retiring) that might make the job less appealing. It just seems like folks are less interested in the position than I would've expected.-QG

 

[JJP]

The Bears want Fewell but will he want them? Good chance Lovie will be jettisoned after next season (its playoffs or else for him) so Fewell probably would only get 1 year with the Bears.

 

[Big Blue Wrecking Crew]

Looks like a deal is in the works...

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

Giants hire Perry Fewell as defensive coordinator

By TOM CANAVAN

AP Sports Writer

Updated: January 14, 2010, 7:38 PM / 0 comments

Buffalo Bills interim coach Perry Fewell has been hired as the New York Giants' defensive coordinator.

Coach Tom Coughlin announced the move late Thursday evening after Fewell spent the past few days weighing offers from the Giants and the Chicago Bears.

Fewell also interviewed for the vacant Bills coaching job but he has said for a while that he felt he was a long shot for that position.

Giants rookie defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan was fired the day after the regular season ended. The Giants gave up more than 40 points in each of their last two games and 427 points for the season, ranking third from the bottom in the NFL. Only the Detroit Lions and St. Louis Rams gave up more.

Fewell and Coughlin have known each other for years.

Fewell spent five seasons as Coughlin's secondary coach in Jacksonville. He spent the last four as the Bills' defensive coordinator and was made their interim head coach for the final seven games of the 2009 season after **** Jauron was fired. The Bills went 3-4.

"I expect Perry to bring the same qualities that I expect from myself," Coughlin said. "I want him to be firm, fair, honest and demanding. My expectation is that he will solidify and unify our defense and be an outstanding teacher. I want energy, enthusiasm, toughness and to make the necessary corrections and game adjustments. Perry is a teacher and a leader and I thought he did an outstanding job of displaying great leadership as the interim head coach of Buffalo this season."

The Giants and the Bills both use a 4-3 defensive scheme.

Both teams struggled with injuries on defense this season. The Giants lost safety Kenny Phillips (knee), middle linebacker Antonio Pierce (neck) and tackle Jay Alford for the season and had cornerbacks Aaron Ross and Corey Webster, linebacker Michael Boley and defensive tackle Chris Canty sidelined for significant portions of the season.

The Bills had five starters go on injured reserve.

"I am ecstatic to come to work for the New York Giants," Fewell said. "It's a good football team with good defensive players, and it is a franchise known for defense."

The Bills struggled stopping the run (30th overall), but the defensive backs led the AFC with 28 interceptions, and were second in the NFL behind only Green Bay.

Rookie safety Jairus Byrd tied for the NFL lead with nine interceptions.

The Bills' defense allowed 14 touchdown passes in each of the last two seasons. The Giants gave up 31 in 2009.

The Giants had 24 takeaways and 13 interceptions in 2009.

In his four years as coordinator, the Bills' defense ranked 18th, 31st, 14th and 19th in the NFL, and that was with an offense that did not produce much or control the ball.

In 2009, Buffalo allowed 340.6 yards and 20.4 points a game. The Giants' gave up an average of 324.9 yards and 26.7 points.

The year before, the Bills were fourth in the NFL in red zone defense, allowing a touchdown on only 41.8 percent of possessions inside the 20-yard line.

Fewell coached Chicago defensive backs in 2005, when the Bears led the NFC with 24 interceptions and cornerback Nathan Vasher and safety Mike Brown were selected to the Pro Bowl. It's one of the reasons Lovie Smith wanted him back as coordinator.

"His defenses have consistently done a good job taking the ball away," Coughlin said.

Fewell was the secondary coach of the St. Louis Rams in 2003-04. He entered the NFL as the defensive backs coach for Coughlin in 1998 and stayed there through 2002. Jacksonville's pass defense ranked third in the NFL in 1999 and two years later the Jaguars gave up only 13 touchdown passes.

"We brought Perry into the league in Jacksonville," said Coughlin, "and I was impressed with his thoroughness, his ability to work with the players and his absolute intent on learning all he could about his profession. He was hired as the secondary coach and he has had great experiences in St. Louis and Chicago with Lovie Smith and that system and in Buffalo with **** Jauron, who was my original defensive coordinator in Jacksonville."

Fewell was a college coach for 13 years before coming to the NFL working at North Carolina, Army, Kent State and Vanderbilt.

"I was a young coach, and he helped develop my philosophy of the game, the discipline, the know-how, the toughness that it takes and the attention to detail. Being prepared. That is what he instilled," Fewell said of his time with Coughlin.

http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/story/922905.html

 

[DoubleG]

Giants hire Perry Fewell as defensive coordinator

By TOM CANAVAN

AP Sports Writer

Updated: January 14, 2010, 7:38 PM / 0 comments

Buffalo Bills interim coach Perry Fewell has been hired as the New York Giants' defensive coordinator.

Coach Tom Coughlin announced the move late Thursday evening after Fewell spent the past few days weighing offers from the Giants and the Chicago Bears.

Fewell also interviewed for the vacant Bills coaching job but he has said for a while that he felt he was a long shot for that position.

Giants rookie defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan was fired the day after the regular season ended. The Giants gave up more than 40 points in each of their last two games and 427 points for the season, ranking third from the bottom in the NFL. Only the Detroit Lions and St. Louis Rams gave up more.

Fewell and Coughlin have known each other for years.

Fewell spent five seasons as Coughlin's secondary coach in Jacksonville. He spent the last four as the Bills' defensive coordinator and was made their interim head coach for the final seven games of the 2009 season after **** Jauron was fired. The Bills went 3-4.

"I expect Perry to bring the same qualities that I expect from myself," Coughlin said. "I want him to be firm, fair, honest and demanding. My expectation is that he will solidify and unify our defense and be an outstanding teacher. I want energy, enthusiasm, toughness and to make the necessary corrections and game adjustments. Perry is a teacher and a leader and I thought he did an outstanding job of displaying great leadership as the interim head coach of Buffalo this season."

The Giants and the Bills both use a 4-3 defensive scheme.

Both teams struggled with injuries on defense this season. The Giants lost safety Kenny Phillips (knee), middle linebacker Antonio Pierce (neck) and tackle Jay Alford for the season and had cornerbacks Aaron Ross and Corey Webster, linebacker Michael Boley and defensive tackle Chris Canty sidelined for significant portions of the season.

The Bills had five starters go on injured reserve.

"I am ecstatic to come to work for the New York Giants," Fewell said. "It's a good football team with good defensive players, and it is a franchise known for defense."

The Bills struggled stopping the run (30th overall), but the defensive backs led the AFC with 28 interceptions, and were second in the NFL behind only Green Bay.

Rookie safety Jairus Byrd tied for the NFL lead with nine interceptions.

The Bills' defense allowed 14 touchdown passes in each of the last two seasons. The Giants gave up 31 in 2009.

The Giants had 24 takeaways and 13 interceptions in 2009.

In his four years as coordinator, the Bills' defense ranked 18th, 31st, 14th and 19th in the NFL, and that was with an offense that did not produce much or control the ball.

In 2009, Buffalo allowed 340.6 yards and 20.4 points a game. The Giants' gave up an average of 324.9 yards and 26.7 points.

The year before, the Bills were fourth in the NFL in red zone defense, allowing a touchdown on only 41.8 percent of possessions inside the 20-yard line.

Fewell coached Chicago defensive backs in 2005, when the Bears led the NFC with 24 interceptions and cornerback Nathan Vasher and safety Mike Brown were selected to the Pro Bowl. It's one of the reasons Lovie Smith wanted him back as coordinator.

"His defenses have consistently done a good job taking the ball away," Coughlin said.

Fewell was the secondary coach of the St. Louis Rams in 2003-04. He entered the NFL as the defensive backs coach for Coughlin in 1998 and stayed there through 2002. Jacksonville's pass defense ranked third in the NFL in 1999 and two years later the Jaguars gave up only 13 touchdown passes.

"We brought Perry into the league in Jacksonville," said Coughlin, "and I was impressed with his thoroughness, his ability to work with the players and his absolute intent on learning all he could about his profession. He was hired as the secondary coach and he has had great experiences in St. Louis and Chicago with Lovie Smith and that system and in Buffalo with **** Jauron, who was my original defensive coordinator in Jacksonville."

Fewell was a college coach for 13 years before coming to the NFL working at North Carolina, Army, Kent State and Vanderbilt.

"I was a young coach, and he helped develop my philosophy of the game, the discipline, the know-how, the toughness that it takes and the attention to detail. Being prepared. That is what he instilled," Fewell said of his time with Coughlin.

http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/story/922905.html

As a Bears fan, I can only say ####. Oh and "Way to go Jerry A. Nice work keeping a lame duck coach so no one worth more than a pile of #### will come here."

 

[Tanner9919]

One of the things that he does well is motivate players and get them to play hard. The Bills don't really have all that much outstanding talent on their team and they were once again ravaged by injuries. But the guys always played hard. Their passing defense was excellent: 2nd best in the league in fact. Their rushing defense was awful: 30th in the league. I chalk most of the rushing defense problems up to a weak defensive line against the run and lack of talent/tons of injuries at the LB position.

only problem is that no one passes against the Bills, everyone runs against them, instead.so that is a VERY bloated pass defense stat..they're only giving up 100 yards/game thru the air, because they've already given up 300 on the ground.

No reason to pass when they can't stop the run! Robbing Peter to pay Paul..

just my two cents, I don't see Fewell as a good hiring at all. He's done nothing in Buffalo to warrant

a DC job with the Giants..

and he's now coaching in a MUCH tougher division than the lame AFC East.

 

[Avery]

One of the things that he does well is motivate players and get them to play hard. The Bills don't really have all that much outstanding talent on their team and they were once again ravaged by injuries. But the guys always played hard. Their passing defense was excellent: 2nd best in the league in fact. Their rushing defense was awful: 30th in the league. I chalk most of the rushing defense problems up to a weak defensive line against the run and lack of talent/tons of injuries at the LB position.

only problem is that no one passes against the Bills, everyone runs against them, instead.so that is a VERY bloated pass defense stat..they're only giving up 100 yards/game thru the air, because they've already given up 300 on the ground.

No reason to pass when they can't stop the run! Robbing Peter to pay Paul..

just my two cents, I don't see Fewell as a good hiring at all. He's done nothing in Buffalo to warrant

a DC job with the Giants..

and he's now coaching in a MUCH tougher division than the lame AFC East.

Take a look at the 'talent' playing on the defensive line in Buffalo last year. You do realize he didn''t play on the defensive line... right?

He got a lot out of pretty limited talent that was hit hard with injuries there.

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

One of the things that he does well is motivate players and get them to play hard. The Bills don't really have all that much outstanding talent on their team and they were once again ravaged by injuries. But the guys always played hard. Their passing defense was excellent: 2nd best in the league in fact. Their rushing defense was awful: 30th in the league. I chalk most of the rushing defense problems up to a weak defensive line against the run and lack of talent/tons of injuries at the LB position.

only problem is that no one passes against the Bills, everyone runs against them, instead.so that is a VERY bloated pass defense stat..they're only giving up 100 yards/game thru the air, because they've already given up 300 on the ground.

No reason to pass when they can't stop the run! Robbing Peter to pay Paul..

just my two cents, I don't see Fewell as a good hiring at all. He's done nothing in Buffalo to warrant

a DC job with the Giants..

and he's now coaching in a MUCH tougher division than the lame AFC East.

this is partly true, but Fewell did a great job creating turnovers. led the league in INTs, I believe.

 

[GroveDiesel]

One of the things that he does well is motivate players and get them to play hard. The Bills don't really have all that much outstanding talent on their team and they were once again ravaged by injuries. But the guys always played hard. Their passing defense was excellent: 2nd best in the league in fact. Their rushing defense was awful: 30th in the league. I chalk most of the rushing defense problems up to a weak defensive line against the run and lack of talent/tons of injuries at the LB position.

only problem is that no one passes against the Bills, everyone runs against them, instead.so that is a VERY bloated pass defense stat..they're only giving up 100 yards/game thru the air, because they've already given up 300 on the ground.

No reason to pass when they can't stop the run! Robbing Peter to pay Paul..

just my two cents, I don't see Fewell as a good hiring at all. He's done nothing in Buffalo to warrant

a DC job with the Giants..

and he's now coaching in a MUCH tougher division than the lame AFC East.

That's somewhat true. They were 20th in the league in pass attempts against them. Of course, the difference between 20th and 9th was just 29 attempts, or a little over 1.8 attempts per game. They were 2nd in the league in rush attempts against though so the point is definitely valid. Of course, one could say that teams rushed rather than threw because the pass defense was so much better than the rush defense, which is 100% true. They only gave up 1.3 more yards per pass than per rush. Their yards per pass play were 2nd in the league. So it's not just like their low pass defense yardage was solely because teams didn't pass a lot against them. It was also because passing against the Bills didn't gain you very much either. They were 3rd in the league in completion percentage. They were 2nd in the league in Interceptions with 28 on the season (including a league leading 9 by rookie Jairus Byrd who didn't even play a bunch).

So yeah, their run defense really WAS bad, but their pass defense was legitimately good too. Their numbers really aren't that deceptive.